NationStates Jolt Archive

Imperial Chemical Industries to leave Spizania

http://www.thewe.cc/thewei/&_/images6/environment/chemical_plant.jpe
This plant in Greater Monmouth will be closed with the loss of more than 3,700 jobs.
___________________
From 'The Herald'
Front Page

Imperial Chemical Industries plc. has announced that it is withdrawing all operations from Spizania, in response to the increasingly unfavourable business environment being created by the country's Socialist government.

The move will see an end to thirty-four years of ICI involvement in Spizania and the closure of three plants. Among them is the company's huge Greater Monmouth chlorination plant, which employs 3,714 people - 70% of the total number employed by ICI in Spizania.

A company spokesman said that the plant, which has been producing chlorine for Spizania's water treatment systems for more than twenty years, was "reaching the end of its usefulness without a major overhaul."

The company said that renewing the plant was considered as an option, but that "thanks to an increasingly unfavourable business environment in Spizania" the plant's production would be moved to an existing site in the Praetonian Fortitude Islands, which is set to expand gaining around 2,000 jobs, and shipped to Spizania in tankers.

The company concluded its statement by saying that it was sorry to see the end of operations in Spizania and that "as soon as the Spizanians elect an economically competent government, we will be back."

If Imperial Chemicals has any surplus chemicals that were intended to be disposed,we can buy them instead

http://usera.imagecave.com/CaptainDeath/VariousShazbotdom/Government-Seal.gif
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
MR. LARRY WILLIAMS
We are rather interested in this venture. The Dark Empire would like to know exactly what laws Spizania passed that would force Imperial Chemical Industries out of their nation. Although we would like the Spizanian government themselves to answer this question.

The Dark Empire does consider itself Socialist, but we do not get in the way of most businesses. Most businesses we watch are forcibly stomping on their competition to make themselves look bigger and better, thus creating an illegal monopoly for whatever product they sell.

If the Spizanian government would answer our inquiry as to what these laws are, we would be happy.

The Government of FreeAngola wishes to propose Imperial Chemical Industries to place their factory in our country where we have very liberal laws

Bump Bump Bump

Bump Bump Bump

OOC:
He's offline. And i'm sure he has a subscription to his own thread so you don't have to bump it.

Oh and visit the Granzi Sell Surplus Arms (Large Discounts) post i left a response there for you

OOC:
He's offline. And i'm sure he has a subscription to his own thread so you don't have to bump it.

I know but i want his factory in my country

I know but i want his factory in my country

OOC:
So? Don't clog up this thread with pointless posts. Here's some sound advice, read the threads at the top of page.

ooc: So we had guessed..The question is whether or not Prae wants it in your country. And it is his choice to make.

Yes and i´m waiting for him to get online so he can make that decision

OOC:
So? Don't clog up this thread with pointless posts. Here's some sound advice, read the threads at the top of page.

So who asked you to come here?you are the one clogging this up

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a335/shaddamIV/VetalianBanner.jpg

To Imperial Chemical Industries and the Government of Spizania:

We have heard of the Imperial Chemical Industries sale and would be interested in purchasing the abandoned plant facilities to construct a new regional research center for the Vetalian Institute for Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. We would fund the conversion of these industrial sites, including any environmental cleanup required, in to a state of the art research center for theoretical research in to chemistry and biomedical applications, especially new drugs and cybernetic integration technologies. We offer ICI an initial bid of $5.75 million for the facilities in question.

Construction of the new facility would create 3,500 temporary construction, logistics, and contractor jobs as well as stimulate demand for building materials and supplies from your nation's companies. The facility would employ 1,900 full-time workers, including 500 researchers and engineers.

We estimate the purchasing construction cost to be roughly $140 million over three years. Please respond soon in order to discuss this offer further.

Thank you,
Dr. Boris Salvinsky
Vetalian Institute for Chemical and Biomedical Research

The Government of FreeAngola offers 600 Million Dollars for the facilities,and proposes that you move your factory to FreeAngola instead of Praetoria,we even offer you the factories with every machine included if you come to FreeAngola

Greater Monmouth Police Station
The chief constable of the Greater Monmouthshire Constabulary was sitting in his office, at his desk doing the ubiqitous paperwork that seemed to be the only indicator of his posistion as chief of Spizanias smallest mainland police force, numbering barely eight hundred officers, it was responsible for protecting the rugged ishtmus that had only two real industries, the transcontinental railway and the ICI Chlor-Alkali plant was now going to close.
To make matters worse, the constituency where the majority of the plant's workforce was based was a marginal seat, with a majority of only eight hundred, indeed, the seat belonged to the incumbant minister of defence, and with the elections only six months away, it would not do to have such a large number of voters put out of work for the reasons the Praetonians had sighted. But the seasoned bobby didnt expect the red phone to ring, the one that all chief constables had that connected to New Scotland Yard several thousand miles away in the capital.
"Hello"
"Hello Steve, im afraid we are going to have make a move on the ICI plant, a motion for the use of the EPA has been tabled, and it should be voted upon within fifteen minutes, i want you and your men ready to move as soon as approval is given by parliament"
"Okay, i get it, thanks richie, see you for the bridge game on tuesday?"
"Wouldnt miss it for the world, catching the monday night express sleeper out to Monmouth, could you have a panda car in the area to pick me up?"
"Ofcourse, il write it off as official business and have them bring you back here under the impression you are delivering important documents by hand"
"Thanks, cya on tuesday", then the line cut off, and he put the phone down, he then realised his hand was shaking. Against Imperialist nuts like Praetonia, this could be construed as an act of war, not the sort of thing he had imagined doing during his early years as a beat officer, when he hadnt even held a gun.
He pressed the intercom, "Mavis, get on the line to the PAR unit, have them ready to go, send them to...", he looked at the map of the town on the wall, "the corner of cornwallis and Victoria avenue, we are going to be making an EPA seizure of the ICI plant", he heard an intake of breath, "then get onto dispatch and get them to send a half dozen of the closest panda cars to set up roadblocks on the all the streets around the factory, oh and..", he picked up his cap from the coatstand by the door as he released the button on the intercom, and walked through the door into Mavis' office, "get one of our reserve cars ready, il be going onto the scene myself"

Fifteen Minutes Later

The three vans loaded with the entire AR team of the Greater Monmothshire Constabulary waited on the corner of Cornwallis and Victoria Avenue, waiting for the go signal.

"This is Dispatch call, Papa Strike 1, approval granted, Go Go Go"

The vans started there engines and charged hte two blocks remaining to the factory, spreading out to the factories three main gates, spilling out armed officers in helmets and light armour vests as they arrived, the beat bobbies and the Chief Constable hanging back a block or so away, they didnt even ahve guns, and only had stab proof vests, if the factory guards put up a fight, they didnt want to get cut in the crossfire.
As the police formed up and moved towards the security guardrooms, a loudhailer attached to one of the vans blasted out.
"This is a legally authorised raid, as constituted under the Employee Protection Act of 2680, lay down your arms or you will treated as enemy combatants"

[OOC: FreeAngola dont spam my thread please.]

David Holden was sitting in the guardhut at the front gate with his feet up on the desk. The monitors that had once shown CCTV footage of the entirety of his section of the plant were shut down. He was one of only around fifteen employees left at the Greater Monmouth plant - security guards who would stay until the factory was dismantled and either moved to the Fortitude site, sold on to other factories, or sold for scrap.

"Fish and chips." Bob Temmerson announced, shutting the guard hut door behind him and depositing two greasy newspaper-wrapped meals on the desk. Like the other guards, they were both Praetonians - brought in from elsewhere in the company so they wouldn't have any sympathy for picketting strikers they would, and had, been asked to baton out of the site's entrances to allow lorries through. The Spizanians were bolshy bastards, and that was one of the reasons ICI was leaving.

"Damned shame about the plant really," said David, shovelling down chips, "Not sure what most of those Spizanian chaps are going to do. I've got a spot at the Fortitude site, thank god."

"Fuck the Spizanians. If they want to sit about striking all day, and then tax away all the company's profit anyway, who cares what happens to them - pass us the ketchup - brought it on themselves, they did."

David sat eating for a little while. He thought Bob was just bitter one of them had broken his arm trying to kick in some "scabs" during one of their frequent strikes.

"Put the tele on," he said at last.

Bob reached for the remote, and laughed when he saw a Spizanian shop steward complaining bitterly about the closure.

"...the ugly face of capitalism has shown itself yet again..."

Bob switched channel in disgust. "Bastard. How can he blame it on the company when it was his Bolshy lot that got them to strike so bloody much."

"Bob, can you hear that? Sounds like someone's joyriding a bus..."

What seemed like only an instant later, a van had screetched to a halt, and dozens of armed men filled the streets.

"Fuck!" Shouted David, drawing his gun and ducking under the guardhouses's desk. The hut itself, including the window, as bullet proof and surrounded by a steel mesh - another response to the frequent picketting. "What the bloody hell do we do now?"

"Shoot the bastards," Bob whispered, crouched down next to David, frantically trying to unlock one of the armoured boxed on the floor that contained riot shotguns 'just in case the strikers break in and try to tear you apart.'

"This is a legally authorised raid, as constituted under the Employee Protection Act of 2680, lay down your arms or you will treated as enemy combatants."

"We need to refer this to the site manager," said David, for once decisive.

The site manager, now that the workforce was gone, was a sixty-two year old security guard named Cecil Fletcher, who had been given the job because management didnt want to risk the civil case that could be brought against them if the increasingly elderly and fat man was actually called on to intervene in something and had a heart attack in the process. "Put me on the loudhailer," he had declared, in his thick, gruff West-country accent.

David held the radio up to the guardhouse's louderhailer system, confident that Cecil would deliver an eloquent address that would satiate the Spizanians' taste for theft: "Bugger off."

"Damn, okay boys, time for plan B, old English style"
The Dozen officers that were meant to be breaching through this posistion, lifted there weapons up to point into the sky, removed the standard FMJ magazines and replaced them with hundred round AP magazines, before lining up in two lines, one kneeling, one standing, all pointing there guns towards the centre of the glass pane facing them.
The Loudhailer behind them called out, "You there, inside the security station, i advise you keep your down and away from the windows"
The officer in charge cocked his own Doomie designed PDW and looked to his men, before pulling out his pipe, dropping his PDW to its harness height, and searching for his old army turbolighter, he was puffing contentedly as he again raised his weapon to the ready posistion.
"Tally ho boys, FIRE!"
And he started to fire, pumping the first of what would be twelve hundred rounds into the steelmesh reinforced glass pane, it wouldnt stand a chance.....

Guardhouse

Bob and David were busy loading a pair of semi-automatic shotguns, hidden from view under the steel desk beneath the windows. They had just finished when they heard the gunfire begin.

"Fucking hell!" Shouted Bob. David could barely hear him over the gunfire. He chanced a glance up but quickly darted back under the desk as the window, a strip of glass only about 20cm tall and a metre wide, began to shatter and break. The thick layers of polycarbonate were flaking off under the sustained fire.

"They're going to fucking kill us!"

"You dont know that," David bellowed back to the other guard, only a couple of centimetres from his face.

"What the hell do you think they're doing then? Smash the window and then - bang! - grenade! Either that or - richochets!"

"Fuck." David agreed.

"Let's give 'em something to think about." Bob grabbed his shotgun, smashed the barrel through the thin remaining sheet of glass from under the table, and started firing frantically, and blind, into the night. David soon joined him.

Central Security Centre

Cecil leaned forwards, squinting. He could scarely believe what he could see on the screens. A double line of men pouring hundreds - thousands - of rounds into the guardhouse, which had then responded with a burst of twelve shotgun shells fired in quick succession.

Quickly, and silently, he began to upload the videos to ICI headquarters.

The shotgun barrage slammed into the 12 policemen over the course of a few seconds, sending pellets flying into there lightweight body armour, all in all eight were hit, with no fatalities but two would need immediate airlift to hospital if they were going to last out the night. The main thing the senior officer had suffered was a very nasty suprise after a pellet has broken the bulb of his prize pipe, it had survived two wars and now lay broken by some renta-cop with a semi automatic shotgun.

"FALL BACK, LAY SMOKE!"

The walking wounded grabbed the two seriously injured ones and hauled them behind the van while it began to slowly reverse away from the guardstation, the others laying down suppresinng fire as the truck began to reverse, leaving dozens of spent mags and spent cases scattered around the place they had been so recently. This was soon joined by numerous smoke grenades, which would completely screen the police from the view of the guardhouse, as well as most likely filling it with smoke

Guardhouse

"That showed the bastards!" Shouted Bob, triumphantly, as the gunfire lifted. He stood up and fired off a magazine from his Doomingslandi TDX .40 Caliber pistol while shouting, "Bloody foreigners!"

David prefered to huddle under the steel desk. Fragments of glass and polycarbonate littered the desktop and the floor beneath it. He could also distinguish a number of pock marks in the wall opposite the window, and a number of flat-nosed bullets on the floor around it.

He passed Bob a gasmask, and put on his own, in a daze, and began to mechanically load the remaining two shotguns, two MP5s and the Lee-enfield bolt action, wondering whether this hellish night would ever end.

Commonwealth Broadcasting - World Service

Good evening and welcome to CB World Service. I'm Katie Sanderson.

First up tonight, distrubing images of a gunfight in progress around the recently closed Imperial Chemical Industries factory in Greater Monmouthshire, Spizania.

<cuts to grainy footage of the guardhouse from the factory. Line of policemen visible, booming chatter of gunfire from Spizanian policemen. Several distinct booms from guardhouse, with muzzle flashes visible.>

Filmed from a nearby camera, these images show Spizanian police firing more than one thousand rounds at a manned gatehouse outside the closed Greater Monmouth factory. Although we can confirm that the Spizanian police fired first, it is believed that the gatehouse returned firing, injuring several officers.

<cuts to grainy footage from another camera showing policemen limping away into growing smoke clowd>

Spizanian sources inform us that there are as yet no fatalities among the Spizanian policemen. The fate of the Praetonian nationals inside the gatehouse is as yet unknown. Now we go live to our Spizania correspondant Simon Mulbridge in Greater Monmouthshire. Simon:

<cuts to shaky image of a man wearing a suit holding a microphone, with the smoke cloud visible some distance behind. Top floors of factory visible above smoke in far distance.>

Hello, Katie. As you can see, the dramatic gunfight occured just metres away from where I'm standing, just down the road over there. We've been informed by the Spizanian authorities that they were attempting to seize the factory under a piece of Spizanian legislation which allows the government to nationalise businesses it believes are not safeguarding jobs. The guards - we don't know if they were acting under orders from ICI, one suspects not given their reputation - clearly took exception to this, and when they refused entry, the Spizanians opened fire.

So we saw, Simon - dramatic stuff, but was it really necessary to fire more than a thousand rounds at a gatehouse only a little larger than a bus shelter?

Well that's one of the questions that will no doubt have to be answered in due course, Katie, but for now we can't find anyone willing to comment on what has clearly been a disaster for the Spizanian police force. This is the Police Armed Response Unit - one of the most prestigous units in the Spizanian police force - and they seem to have been routed by a few security guards outside an abandoned factory.

Finally, before we go back to the studio, do there seem to be any signs there of the Spizanian people rethinking their nationalisation policy? Has this incident showed people there just how much property is valued, perhaps not in Spizania, but at least in the Free World?

Well that remains to be seen, but no one I've spoken to tonight has questioned the nationalisation policy at all. In fact many people are very angry at the factory for closing, if though the company claims it wasn't their fault.

<cuts to studio, with presenter sitting opposite a middle-aged man wearing a suit>

Simon Mulbridge, thankyou. Now we have with us in the studio The Right Honourable John Hetherbridge, who is a Junior Minister at the Foreign Office. Mr Hetherbridge, what is the government's stance on tonight's events?

We are very concerned, not only that Spizania has decided to steal the property of Praetonian subjects - you may be interested to know that Imperial Chemical Industries has more than 300,000 private shareholders in this country alone - but to enforce their theft by such ridiculous and violent means.

One is pleased in a way that the Spizanian police has been fought off, but we worry even more for the safety of the Praetonian subjects in the gatehouse. I would say that if they killed due to the actions of the Spizanian police force, who the videos show fired first in this instance, serious action will be taken against the Spizanian government.

Going back to the nationalisation for a second - does the Government recognise this as legitimate?

Not at all. We intend to push very hard for the restitution of Imperial Chemical Industries' property, and may pursue a very hard line if this is not done.

Mr Hetherbridge I'm afraid that's all we've got time for, thankyou.

Thankyou.

The first battleship in the new King George IV-class was launched today to...

From: Dr. Boris Salvinsky
To: ICI, Spizania

We are exceptionally concerned by the deteriorating situation in regards to this purchase and will withdraw our offer until you have resolved this conflict. We cannot risk losing our investment in a war, nor can we risk losing it to a nation that seems fit to expropriate property through violence without reason or merit.

We hope that negotiations can resume at a more amicable time,
Dr. Boris Salvinsky,
Institute for Chemical and Biomedical Research

The Armed police had been driven back, then again they had been unprepared for the series of events that had occured, and now two of there number lay in ICU wards, there lives hanging in the balance.
Now it was time for payback, but these Praetonians wouldnt be killed, they would be simply hauled off to the worst prison the Confederacy could find, and left to shrink into the distant past and rot.
The instrument of there fate had just arrived from the local territorial barracks, a Confederate Territorial Army Assault Gun, which now drove up the road towards the ever resilient guardhouse, no attempt was made to lay smoke, while a double line of Armed Police, including many of the walking wounded and unwounded men from that ill fated attack, moved up behind it, holding there PDWs loosely at rest across there arms, while the Commander of the Assault Gun had his hatch open, and was out of the vehicle to the waste, watching the scene as the armoured vehicle drove towards the guardhouse, its long barreled 155mm Rifle depressed to near zero degrees elevation, a very unusual thing in the history of the vehicle.
It was time to see how the Guards would react to brute force, thought the commander of the vehicle as it crunched to a stop barely thirty feet away from the guardhouse, its gun covering nearly half that distance, ending in a double chambered muzzle brake around sixteen feet from the damaged wall of the guardhouse.

Old Bank House, Kingston

It was early morning - just a few hours past midnight - and the darkness still enveloped the world outside the grand neo-classical home of the Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICI, Lord John Sanderson, First Earl of Cambertown. He was sat at the head of the great oak dinner table in the dining room he reserved for formal occassions. The Board occupied the remaining seats.

"Thankyou for agreeing to come at such short notice, Gentlemen. No doubt you have heard."

He could see from their faces that they all had.

"This is a most distressing incident. I had not thought even the Spizanian socialists had sunk so low as to resort to theft to avoid confronting the truth about their economic system," the ageing Earl paused for a moment, as if consider whether he really ought to say what he was about to.

"I am resolved to fight this. I am resolved to fight it to the hilt."

There was silence for a few minutes.

"You mean, we shall hire the best lawyers in Spizania - take the case to their highest court if we have to," said one of the younger non-executive directors.

"No. No, I'm afraid that is not what I mean at all. You are no doubt unaware they have brought up an assault gun to dislodge that tenacious little guardhouse of mine -"

The Earl laughed. Years of cigar smoking had made his laughter almost indistinguishable from a hacking cough, and he rarely indulged these days in what had become a painful activity, but it was clear he found the situation highly amusing.

"- they are clearly incompetent," he continued, recovering his composure, "but they are bloody minded nonetheless. They could have pinned a possession notice to the main gate, but no - they have made this into a battle. Have you seen the papers? Have you seen the Questarian papers? This is about more than just that factory.

"I have spoken with the factory guards directly. They assure me that they will defend The Company's property so long as they are assured of relief."

The Earl silently thanked the security department for choosing semi-fanatical anti-communists to guard ICI's plants in more strike-prone parts of the world.

"I intend to have them pursue a policy of aggressive defence.

"Already the Spizanian policeforce has already been routed. They have been forced to call in their army just to dislodge two frightened and uncoordinated men in a little concrete hut. I have no doubt that our entire remaining security team, acting on sound orders from our security department and assured of impending rescue, will be able to defeat anything the Spizanians can throw at them."

The Board sat in stunned silence. They had just heard their Chairman declare that he intended to declare war on Spizania, destroy their policeforce and their army, and then evacuate his men in time for tea and medals.

"Without wishing to appear disrespectful, Mr Chairman, how, precisely, do you intend to relieve them?" One of the Executive Directors asked.

"I have already purchased a cargo ship, at considerable personal expense, from Randolph Shipping. It is two days' steam from Spizania. In the next eight hours, it will be loaded with four hundred and fifty ex-army troops supplied by Integraded Defence plc., with small arms, heavy weapons, light artillery and light tanks. At this point we will be able to negotiate for the return of the factory on favourable terms.

"You may think this extraordinary. I tell you, gentlemen, it is necessary. A message must be sent to the world that the property of Praetonian Subjects is not open for any bolshevik bloody foreigner to come in and steal. I am an old man. I have no need of much of my own fortune, made building this company up from nothing. I will fund this venture myself. I ask only that you support it and that you represent it well to the shareholders. If it fails, I shall resign."

The mood of the room changed at once. Previously skeptical, the Board now had the tantalising propsect of one of their number succeeding to the throne of Imperial Chemicals dangled before their noses. The Earl had ruled for so long, it seemed impossible for him to be dislodged until he was dead. He was as much a part of The Company as the great tanks and pipes that pumped chemicals to and fro in processes few of them understood.

"I think that the Board can see its way to supporting the Chairman's most noble proposal. All of us can safely say that we would not like it one bit if our property were stolen. We are sure that shareholders will fell the same. As the Chairman has been kind enough to fund this with his own money, I cannot see what possible objection could be made," said one of the Directors.

"Eloquently put," said another, "three cheers for the gallant Chairman! Hip-hip!"

"Huzzah!" The table shouted as one.

ICI Greater Monmouthshire Plant, Spizania

Amongst the maze of pipes, ten of the fifteen guards had already positioned themselves, Lee-enfield rifles resting on the roof ledges before them. At that distance, with such a backdrop, they were essentially invisible to the Spizanians below.

Each of them had marked a target. Two of them were aiming for the assault gun commander who had foolishly not buttoned down. The remaining eight had chosen different Spizanian policemen from amongst the centre ranks. Foolishly again, the Spiznanians advanced paying no regard for cover. They would be easy kills.

"Your will job will be two-fold: first, to capture a hostage and then retreat to the plant - everything will depend on this - and second, to incapacitate the assault gun. We will kill the commander, and they will not be able to shut the hatch. All you need to do is spray the inside with MP5 gunfire," the ageing radio crackled, struggling to decode its own weak encryption. At least the Spizanians wouldnt be listening. "Prepare your smoke grenades. You must go immediately on hearing the first gunshot."

David didn't feel happy about this but, as the Captain of the Guards had reassured him over the radio, "the assault gun is likely to open fire soon after the operation begins, and it's pointed straight at your guard hut." He resigned himself to the just-about-better-than-suicide mission.

Bob had silently unbolted the steel door of the guardhut, still ducked down beneath the window. David had a shotgun in one hand, a smoke grenade in the other and an MP5 slung over his back. Bob had the same. They had wanted to bring the Lee-enfield too, but it would be too much to carry.

"Ready..." the Captain of the Guards' voice caught them by surprise, and both men tried to pretend they hadn't almost jumped. They felt how all men must feel on the verge of being thrust into a battle they had had no idea was coming - afraid and distinctly sick.

BANG! One of the snipers aimed at the gun commander had fired. A split second later, the other nine snipers fired too. Bob and David threw their smoke grenades towards the Spizanians. They fired off a couple of unaimed bursts of buckshot with their shotguns towards the Spizanian troops. The whole thing was designed to disorientate them.

"Go! Go! Go!" The shouting was coming from the building.

"Advance!" "Charge!" "No prisoners!" As they reloaded, the unmoving snipers were imitating a wave of ferocious soldiers charging towards the Spizanians through a rapidly thickening smog. This, combined with the darkness, the noise, the gunshots - everything - how could the Spizanians still have an ounce of coordination left? How could a single man not be terrified to the point of uselessness? The snipers had fired again.

Bob pulled open the door, and charged like a madman, screaming, towards the smoke-obscured place the Spizanian lines had been, making to smash the butt of his shotgun into a dazed Spizanian's face. David did the same, going instead for the assault gun, making to jump for it, begging their bold gamble would pay off, and extricate them from the terrible situation they found themselves in only around fifteen minutes before as they heard the gun rumbling towards them.

OOC: This is pre the praetonian assault...or about the same time, neither matters greatly.

IC:

Official Hotdian Response from the Office of the President

It comes with deep regret that i must make this petition against Praetonia on the actions by their citizens whilst working in Spizania. The fact that Praetonian security guards are trained to kill and shoot foreign security forces simply carrying out their duty is a disgrace, and is disgusting to think that an ally of Hotdogs2 would not respond to these acts before we ourselves could send out an official message regarding the situation, and may i make clear, i have only received this information from the news stations reporting live from the factory. To me it seems this is a distinct lack of control, respect and control on the part of Praetonia's chemical company, ICI.

May i make it clear ALL Praetonian citizens are forthwith banned from possessing firearms within our nation, even those licensed. Any weapons may either be refunded at full retail price, inactivated by Hotdian police or exported to Praetonia in the near future, however for now we are simply putting an emergency plan into action to confiscate these weapons until a decision has been made on what to do. If these security guards, supposedly professional in well trained to have served for so long with ICI if i understand correctly, are capable to breaking so many laws then surely an untrained, unprofessional Praetonian poses a danger to any nation.

However, the act of greatest importance now to offer Hotdogs greatest sympathies to our allies Spizania. Their serving police forces have faced a barrage of aggression and have stood up well showing their courage by returning to the plant even after being fired upon severely. As someone who did his service in the armed forces, may i state i feel a close bond with these policemen as i have also faced danger in our long past. Hotdogs is behind you and is doing everything it can to compile the evidence against these possible murderers.

ICI Press Release

Imperial Chemical Industries plc. strongly denies the allegations made against our staff that they were breaking Spizanian law through their actions around the Greater Monmouthshire plant in Spizania. As the video footage of the incident clearly shows, Spizanian police opened fire first, having received no provokation from the guardhouse. In these circumstances, our security guards have every right under Spizanian law to defend themselves and their property against armed attack from a clearly incompetent, out of control and possibly psychotic group of police officers, who fired more than a thousand rounds at two individuals who had made no attempt to threaten or untake violent action.

Furthermore, Imperial Chemical Industries plc. denies any moral validity of the Spizanian position. Their actions with regards to the ICI Greater Monmouthshire plant amount to no more than government sponsored theft, and it is the duty of all free citizens to oppose such actions wherever they may be found. The fact that this action was backed by an incompetent policeforce and, increasingly, the Spizanian army, bears no relation to its morality. It seems strange that Hotdogs2 is so quick to deny the right of our staff to defend themselves from a clearly unprovoked attack with deadly automatic firearms, but at the same time leaps to defend a vast theft carried out by a government whose actions cannot be challenged by the rightful property owners.

Finally, Imperial Chemical Industries plc. condemns the racist policies enacted by the Hotdogs2 government towards Praetonian subjects in their country, seemingly without any vote by their Parliament or equivalent on the issue. Their claim that evidence of some members of a society commiting certain acts (even acts as beneficient as self-defence, and the defence of their employees' property from theft) being evidence that all members of that society are automatically guilty also of those acts is the same irrational logic that has been used to justify genocide in times past. It appears to be rearing its ugly head once more in the shape of racist arms bans directed against Praetonian subjects by a clearly xenophobic and morally bankrupt government, which sees self-defence a crime and theft as a virtuous act to be celebrated.

In the opinion of the Board of ICI plc., it is beyond belief how any sane individual can in good conscience claim to hold the opinions that the government of Hotdogs2 does.

The round struck the vehcile commander on right breast, punching through his lightweight armour vest and lodging itself inside his left lung, he slumped over his 17.78mm Machine Gun as the sound of the first shot rang out.
The crew had been trained for this set of circumstances, and even if someone they had known for the majority of there lives had just been critical wounded or even killed, they reacted with cold efficiency, the gunner firing the round in the breach and reaching to draw his TDX Sidearm from its holster. The driver meanwhile threw the tank into reverse, retreating at a normal walking pace, allowing any of the soon to be wounded officers who could not walk to be placed onto the back of the vehicle by relatively unwounded comrades.
Then a security guard flashed across the Drivers Thermal Gunsight, passing out of the range of rotation of his L8 Machine Gun before he could even react, then the sound of a burst of 9mm Parabellum and a single heavier bark of a Spizanian Issue TDX sounded over the crackly intercom, and the driver knew the gunner had been hit, probably seriously.
Then the sounds of the intercom crackled with the same report as the battle outside as the tank slowly backed away from the action, the distraught driver spraying 7mm SAR rounds from his L8V Light Support Weapon Mounting.

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The shots rang out as two of the comrades walking behind the assault gun tumbled over, blood pouring from the woudns they had taken through there ballistic vests, which had been designed to handle commercial FMJ pistol ammunition, not mil-spec rifle ammunition. These men, both of them badly injured where dumped as gently as possible onto the back of the Gun as the others took up what cover they could behind the vehicle, firing bursts of lightweight PDW ammunition that at these ranges would be ineffective in every way other than forcing the snipers to keep there heads down.
Then in the corner of his nightvision monocle, Lt. Mckinley spotted a man with an MP5 jump onto the top of the gun and spray MP5 fire past the slumped body of the vehicle commander into the crew compartment, acting on pure reflex he turned and fired a dozen or more rounds at the man, he could not tell if the man had been hit, but the way he slumped suggested he had been hit more than once.
The men continued to give covering fire as they pulled back, spraying fire at the other man insane enough to break cover and come charging towards them, the scene lit by the predawn gloom creeping in from the eastern horizon and from the fire now burning merilly amognst the remains of the guardhouse.

In total four more officers and two territorials were down, one of which was a fattality, the gunner in the assault gun, but the commander of the vehicle only had a 50:50 chance of survival, as he had suffered a punctured lung in addition to significant trauma and blood loss.

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After a message was broadcast on the rolling banner facility available on all public TV stations, the members of the Greater Monmouth Territorial Regiment of Foot came charging out of there houses, struggling to pull on there combat jackets while handling weapons and ammunition, the ordinary LSW gunners and Riflemen, got into there cars and drove towards the fighting, while the others all drove towards the barracks, hurrying to pile into there vehicles, where the remainder of the on-duty force was being mobilised, moving to avenge the death and serious wounding of two of there own.

"This is gold!" The General-Secretary said, "But only if it devolves into war."

The Head of the NKVD blinked for a moment.

"Sir?"

The General-Secretary went on: "Its quite simply. This crisis devolves into war, we help out the Praetonians and Questerians, we win, and BAM! Our nations buisnesses get contracts to build and run factories inside Spizania."

The Head of the NKVD replied, "Do you want to have agents stir things up?"

"Nyet," The General-Secretary replied, "It seems things are going to go downhill quite a bit. We better just issue a statement of support."

He lifted a secure phone to his ear, "Get me the Foreign Minister!"

Official Statement from TSRT Government
"We are gravely concerned by the apparent incident that has occurred in the Nation of Spizania. That said, as of now we condemn the rash actions of the Spizanian police force."
End Message